#the castle of otranto

[belle-keys]

no, it’s gothic girl summer. while you down patrón shots, i’ll be repeatedly catching fevers while staring virginally out into the bogs as i pine for a man without any self-respect and unironically read “the monk” by matthew lewis.

[bonesashesglass]

Palestine mentioned in The Castle of Otranto, by Horace Walpole, 1764.

Israel can pretend all they want, Palestine has always existed. It’s in the fabric of our literature, our history.

[leer-reading-lire]

JOMP Book Photo Challenge || June || 10 || Books And Sunshine

[octaviasdread]

(don’t repost photos)

Strawberry Hill House, London - Created by Horace Walpole as a Home & Folly

[thegracefulwillow]

It is super annoying and distracting when people write into library books but this actually made me laugh out loud

Your son Conrad was only just crushed by a giant helmet a couple hours ago, Manfred!

[solovelyanddry]

Link to the results of part one

[appleinducedsleep]

The next transition of his soul was to exquisite villainy.

Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto

[toyourlovemp3]

The Castle of Otranto (1764), Horace Walpole

[vacantgodling]

the castle of otranto — mini review

so i finished the book and fucking. good lord

it was a fast read but dude even still the pace was absolutely BREAKNECK like there was not a pause for even a SECOND. the description of events was only slightly hard to determine at every now and again, especially given the fact that there are literally No Quotation Marks To Denote Speech so i did find myself rereading pages just to make sure i understand what the fuck is going on, or, more importantly who the fuck is talking.

but i really enjoyed it tbh—it had everything you want or expect from a goth lit and that’s because it’s well, the first one (technically) lmao. you dislike the antagonist from literal jump (fastest corruption arc in history literally only 6 pages and my guy was a Villain), and an honestly interestingly roundabout way it built up the main protagonist. despite thinking it would be isabella at first (which could be a good angle for a reimagining or retelling), i found myself lowkey not favoring her as things went on— not even because she did anything wrong my heart just went out to matilda so hard (cast aside by her father, never desiring love until she suddenly was struck with it, the way she conducted herself in setting theodore free etc etc) and her and theodore i was rooting for… only to have it taken away from and honestly ??? it was really well done i felt awful that they weren’t together in the end but yknow. Doomed by the narrative and all that.

i also really came to care for theodore like he’s everything you want in a hero protagonist of this kind of book. brave, honest, humble, but also ready to throw down LMAO i just wish she actually got licks in on main baddy man the SATISFACTION UGH.

i think my only drawbacks to this book is honestly just like it’s general haste and sort of… lack of focus in explaining anything. while an omniscient perspective is generally fine, it honestly was super confusing to follow at some points bc it was trying to tell me everything about everyone at the same time. while i actually enjoyed the breakneck pacing (it’s such a refreshing change of pace from the literal DRAG that was trilby and it’s 20 page long tangents about FUCK ALL) i kind of wish there was more… focus and more explanation on certain parts. the subject of theodore’s birth was a Really confusing passage to read, and the prophecy segments between manfred and fredric were also like super confusing to follow. it’s never explained why matilda’s mom had her pray at alfonso’s grave every day… though like knowing everything i kind of get why? but i also don’t get how theodore is the True Heir of alfonso? like i’ve read the wiki at this point just to make sure i got everything and i’m still a bit confused so tbh i wish it was just. explained in plainer terms what the fuck is happening.

But this is a book from 1764 so i’m not that upset bc tbh i got most of what happened and i really enjoyed it lol.

overall, 8.5/10 would happily reread it again

[mydawnsky]

Current Read

2 chapters in and I'm really enjoying it so far! I find myself chuckling every few pages due to the dramatics of it all ~ very extra 😊

I also find myself rereading paragraphs often to try and figure out who's talking because Walpole didn't know what quotation marks and dialogue-based paragraph breaks were 😅

[nuka-rockit]

no but the premise of The Castle of Otranto is so funny. a guy gets squished by a giant helmet. this causes an attempted divorce, an attempted murder, the discovery of a long lost prince, a successful but also erroneous murder and a wedding. The helmet also ominously floats outside of the window sometimes. in case you talk shit.

[thefaeriefeatherdark]

Gothic Literature is wild. You think that The Castle of Otranto is a serious dramatic story but then you realize half-way through that the stories inciting incident is that a guy is crushed by a Santa Hat.

[entozoonart]

Alphonso the Good from "The Castle of Otranto" (Horace Walpole)

[obscurecharactershowdown]

Group E Round 1

[image ID: the first image is of Puck Reverie, a character with brown skin, long brown hair worn loosely, and light yellow eyes with black, vertical pupils. he has 2 triangular ears, similar to a cat's, and a dog-like tail. he has 2 white angel wings on his back and a halo above his head. he's shirtless, and simply wears a pair of pants. the second image is the cover of The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole. it depicts a man in a European-style suit of armor approaching 2 women dressed in 18th century dresses. end ID]

Puck Reverie

[no propaganda provided]

Conrad

First gothic novel ever written. He's the weak fail son of Lord Manfred who is so sickly and weak that his father is like "we must marry him off as early as possible so he won't die first" and then on the morning of his wedding he's crushed to death by a giant stone helmet that falls from above. This is like the first two pages of the story and the story quickly moves on from him. My Gothic Horror class was so obsessed with this dude that we mentioned him every single class and also we named our cohort "Conrad" which later became "Conrad Van Helsing" (just cause we also liked the name Van Helsing). Imagine thinking "my son is so weak and sick so he better get married before he succumbs to it" and then he's crushed to death by a giant helmet. Anyone would have died from that he didn't even need to weak or sickly to die from it it's so funny this is what started the entire genre of gothic horror this is the world we live in isnt it grand dracula came from conrad being crushed to death by a helmet on the opening pages

[somerubberband]

horace walpole let me introduce you to my good friend the paragraph break